Helen Posted June 27, 2011 Posted June 27, 2011 Do read our new article from Professor Anne Cockburn at UEA I spent a long time thinking about zero not being "nothing" but in fact being "the absence of something". You can find the article here
AnonyMouse_705 Posted June 27, 2011 Posted June 27, 2011 Thank you for this article. As someone who somehow managed to achieve a CSE Grade 1 in Mathematics but does not see herself as a confident mathematician (despite managing my setting's financial administration quite well because it makes sense), I found this article very interesting. Maybe that is why I couldn't understand algebra at school - because I saw the = sign to be a call to action rather than equivalency! Like the picture in the article I always show the children clenched fists to illustrate zero and generally called 0 zero but 'nothing' has been known to be uttered from my lips too. Not any more! I had a feeling that 0 should be called zero but not why. I also like the idea of counting up from zero too as well as counting down to zero. Thank you!
AnonyMouse_3139 Posted June 27, 2011 Posted June 27, 2011 Thank you for this article. As someone who somehow managed to achieve a CSE Grade 1 in Mathematics but does not see herself as a confident mathematician (despite managing my setting's financial administration quite well because it makes sense), I found this article very interesting. Ditto!! I had a quick scan though but I've saved it for a better read later. I love the idea of a bag with nothing in it. How simple!
Guest Posted June 28, 2011 Posted June 28, 2011 I really enjoyed this article which has certainly given me food for thought. Although an early years trained teacher, years ago when my children were small I did supply teaching for a few years where I taught up to Year 6. I found that I was completely at sea when I had to teach long multiplication and long division as it was so different from the way I'd been taught at school. Even now I still prefer to use the 'old' way (if no calculator is at hand).
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